Social Media

How to contact your Social Media Manager

There are so many folks contributing to Marketing @ Sourcegraph. But if you want to contact the Social Media Team, we recommend you star or join these channels in Slack:

#social-media-action channel: Send urgent social media related requests, questions, or industry updates to this channel. If you need something that requires an action to be taken- you’re in the right place.

What reactions mean in this channel:

👀 The social media manager is aware of the request. But can’t work on it at the moment.

✅ The social media manager has completed the request and it is scheduled in Sprout.

👍 An update has been provided that doesn’t require an action, but the social media manager is now aware.

#social-media-posts: In the spirit of being open and transparent, you can use this channel to see Sourcegraph social media posts that have been published.

Shaping Social @ Sourcegraph

Social @ Sourcegraph to date has not had a formal strategy when it comes to social media content, reporting, or campaigns. So it is important to note that this will be a year full of experimentation, learning, and testing. The Social Media Team aims to create a more strategic, effective, and streamlined presence on social to increase brand awareness, and follower and engagement growth. It is our mission to grow the code search and Sourcegraph conversations.

Organic social promotion is sought after by many teams, programs, and campaigns so it is important to create an understanding that Social @ Sourcegraph has its own goals and tactics. We will take requests from other teams but understand that:

• We do not participate in direct marketing.
• Our social interactions put our community, and the wider developer community- first.
• We celebrate milestones, and contributions shared by team members and Sourcegraph users.
• Organic social is a top-of-funnel activity driving impressions, engagements, conversations and link clicks. What we share should move users further down the funnel. But the next team needs to pick up the conversion.
• We enable and amplify our developer advocates, always. They are evangelizing code search. A connection is felt to be stronger, and more authentic when a conversation is between humans, not a brand. So we lean on the personal presence of our advocates first. And amplify those interactions when we see fit.

Brand Social Channels

These channels are owned and operated by Sourcegraph as a company in the care of the Social Media Team under the Brand umbrella. They provide the company a mix of audiences and content opportunities. And sometimes the goals may differ depending on what we are trying to accomplish at a given moment.

Twitter

LinkedIn

Twitch and YouTube are a testament to building community. Community enthusiasts stream live on these platforms. And then the brand channels promote events like Dev Tool Time and the Sourcegraph podcast.

Although these channels serve different purposes for us in our social media landscape and are operated by DRI’s- they still hold the company name as part of the profile page. The core social media team partners with those who produce the content versus actually producing the content. The social media team can provide metrics of success. We can also amplify to expand the reach of this content. But the social media team will never actually produce the live streams. These are left to our developer advocates, team members, etc.

Calendaring

Sourcegraph is a global and also all-remote brand. That means on our social media platforms we must deliver content with every time zone in mind. When important events or specific news is published, it is important to still adhere to Sprout Social data, and schedule accordingly. We want to include people all over the world, so our calendaring and volume should be adaptable and inclusive. However, the social media manager will ultimately publish content at the “best times of day”, determined by Sprout Social and its viral post feature, which may or may not include a wide variety of times. Sprout Social uses integrations with each social platform via their API. Sprout’s Viral Post technology also looks at our most active and influential followers to determine suggested post times.

Content calendars are scheduled in advance and are most often than not- at “full capacity”.

1–2x on LinkedIn per day

1–3x on Twitter per day

Sourcegraph has a variety of content deemed valuable. And organic social is being used to drive traffic to our website, and specific pieces of content.

Sharing blog posts

The content team should create a task under the Social Media Requests: Organic Asana project. The DRI can use this template. To consolidate tasks, the managing editor of the blog will create a monthly parent task of upcoming blogs. As blog posts are scheduled, the editor of a post will create a subtask for it and attach it to the parent task. It is under the subtask where the social media manager will collaborate with the editor of the post and provide suggested social campaigns. Once the editor approves, the social media manager schedules the posts under drafts in Sprout Social. Once the blog is published live, they should notify the social media manager via Slack signaling to push drafts to the calendar.

On a quarterly basis the social media team will identify the best performing blogs. The top 2–3 blogs will then be reintroduced and scheduled to publish on Sourcegraph Brand Social Channels.

Requesting Social Promotion

Many requests for social media coverage could sound like one ask, but ultimately have different end-user objectives or where we’ll need to promote different assets or links. It is important to recognize that each piece of content delivered to the social media manager is approached thoughtfully and strategically. We adhere to our high-quality value by default. And don’t see social media posts as a one-off request, rather a well-thought-out organic social campaign that extends the life of each piece of content. Here’s how you can request social media coverage:

Join the Social Media Requests: Organic project in Asana.

Fill out the Social Media Promotion Request Form in Asana. This is where you will be asked a series of questions to help the social media manager complete your request.

Things to remember about social media requests

• For anything to get promoted on social, there must be a dedicated task opened in Asana.
• If the need is urgent, send a message to the #social_media_action Slack Channel.
• Sometimes it is not possible to schedule posts when desired due to any number of reasons, but the social team will work with you to make sure you’re supported.
• The social team reserves the right to not publish for a number of reasons: crisis moments, calendar priorities, and other elements.

Urgent requests, priority, and last-minute asks

As mentioned, social media supports each marketing function at Sourcegraph so there needs to be a defined level of priority due to the sheer volume of requests. There are few situations where requests will be delivered immediately, and only if there is priority. The social media team manages a calendar of pre-scheduled posts. So adding additional social posts without warning and asking for immediate priority is an issue. And every single time that occurs, the social media manager has to manually move and adjust the calendar around like a puzzle while still ensuring proper timing of each post and taking into consideration each specific algorithm of channels. It simply is not a good use of our calendar or our time to rely on live updates. That said, the social media manager should still ultimately publish content at the “best times of day” to ensure the most eyes are on our social updates while considering urgent requests.

Dev Tool Time has a live component to its promotion so the updates before going live on Twitch will always take precedence over other posts being asked to publish on a streaming day.

If the Corporate Communications team provides media coverage with positive sentiment, this will take priority over already scheduled posts that do not have time-sensitive requirements.

Commenting on current and trending events allows our brand to become relevant not to just our community - but to everyone else too. That said, our brand social Twitter channel should prioritize engaging in conversations. By simply sharing owned content- our social media presence becomes just another communications channel. Social media was intended to foster conversations and build digital relationships. That’s why the algorithms actually deliver 1:1 conversation to feeds over your published post. So if you are not engaging with people, or getting people to engage with you- the algorithm essentially hides you from the feed. Through this practice, we can inspire conversation and start showing up in the world in a delightful and strategic way.

A last minute ask does not mean it will take priority. Slack is not the single source of truth for social media management at Sourcegraph. All requests that require substance, thoughtfulness, or a campaign- should be submitted by filling out this form in Asana. If you are simply asking for a like, comment, or reshare by the brand social channels, that is an appropriate last minute request that can be completed immediately.

Sharing content from behind a paywall

If press coverage blocked by a paywall is provided to promote, we can still share the article- but a different approach needs to be taken. because it is important to our community that what we share adds value, can be replicated, or teaches them something. We are unable to stick to that commitment if delivering them content that is backed by a paywall. That said, by providing a warning [Paywall]- we adhere to our transparency value. The social media team can share a Twitter thread if the Corporate Communications team provides the information from the article our audience is not necessarily able to access.

Sharing events

Coverage for events across the Sourcegraph brand social channels varies and is dependent on investment level, on-the-ground activations, and core messaging. Social coverage for an event is not guaranteed. And typically will only publish on the brand channels if it is a Tier 1 or 2 event.

Sponsoring or creating an event is a way to extend Sourcegraph to new audiences, so promoting these events to our existing audiences on brand social channels does not work in the same direction. In order for an event to be social-able, there needs to be something that social audiences can gain. In most cases, promoting events on organic brand social channels is a way to tell our audiences that we are out in the world, doing big things, and are taken seriously. This means that simply because Sourcegraph is a sponsor of an event does not mean that we will promote the event on organic brand social channels.

Any marketing sponsored event that has on-site support (example: AWS re:Invent, or Sourcegraph owned event) would qualify for a social channel takeover during that time. If there is any press coverage that comes out of the Tier 1 or Tier 2 event, that will also be promoted on brand social channels. Any brand mentions on social media will be reshared to the main account.

Any event with a Sourcegraph speaker, presentation, or interactive element will get original posts broadcasted to the brand channels. Essentially you must have more than a booth presence or more than general attendance to receive this level of promotion. Custom copy, and images will be developed by the brand team in advance of the event.

Any other event will not receive promotion from the brand channels and here is why. Organic brand social channels have to maximize fit, content, and distribution in order to meet performance metrics. This yields more attention to the right content from the right kind of audience. An integrated plan for event coverage should never rely solely on social media-specially organic. If you are deeply concerned about marketing your event, please consider an alternative to organic social, including paid social advertising.

An event that has only booth or attendance will only receive an enablement kit, and engagement from the brand channels. That means during the event the social media manager will engage with any brand mentions. And suggested posts for Sourcegraph team members will be provided. Basically, if your only request is “We have a booth and want people to find us” then the appropriate route of promotion is through personal profiles, and paid social advertising.

Field events hosted by Sourcegraph present a major challenge for organic social channels. Geo-targeting is very limited. And our existing followers are located across the globe. So that means an original post on the brand channels may not be warranted. The best way to promote a field event is through paid social advertising. Note that this is probably more specific to in-person events.

Sharing 3rd party events on organic brand channels where a team member is speaking

The purpose of Sourcegraph team members participating in 3rd-party events is to bring Sourcegraph’s message to the 3rd-party’s audience and to gain more community. Therefore, it’s contradictory for Sourcegraph brand social channels to promote a team member speaker for a 3rd-party event as an original post or thorough campaign.

Periodically, if the speaking engagement is part of a critical campaign, we may tweet once for folks to register for the event. However, if you’re the speaker, we encourage you to post to your own social channels so that your network can join the event. Share your post with the #social-media-action Slack channel and we’ll like, comment, and share your post.

Personal Social Channels

Guidelines COMING SOON!

The power of 1 profile has much less impact than the power of many. That’s pretty obvious, we know.

It is important to express that Social @ Sourcegraph encompasses brand, team member, and community social channels. Through brand and team member personalities, we will become a relatable brand with a strong connection to our community.

The Social Media team is responsible for enabling team members to supplement their personal channels. We do not have a formal Employee Advocacy tool. So this section will provide tips on how to set your profile up for success, how to curate content, and how to engage like an expert online.

It is critical that Sourcegraph team members understand that there is a separation between themselves/their voices and beliefs and the brand. The brand has a particular voice, personality, and set of values.

Shortening URLs

The social media team is often asked to shorten URLs for team members. You can learn more about that here.

Social during an incident

The social media manager has the authority to use Sourcegraph’s high agency value when globally felt events occur, or when an unplanned event causes a service disruption.

That said, the social media team may pause all brand channel social posts at a given moment. This practice is called “going dark” and we will use this strategy to avoid our brand flooding social media feeds during a given time.

When this practice is being used, all scheduled posts will be moved to drafts. The social media manager will review drafts and assess if the social copy feels relevant, or not. Time-sensitive posts will be rescheduled first. We also have the agency to determine if a particular post will not be rescheduled. It is possible social copy may need to be updated depending on the cultural impact.